Openmind 141, September/October 2006
The history of service user action in the UK has been underexplored. In the last 15 years, there has been a small number of dissertations, book chapters and academic articles written about aspects of the 'movement' but very little detailed research and no overall history. There are many service users around today who have been involved in independent service user groups and voluntary organisations since the early 1980s. A fascinating history resides with these and other service users. Nobody has sought this out. It has not yet been communicated.
In the last few years, interest in this history has increased. It is now 21 years since the start of the significant growth of activity that some have understood as the beginning of the 'user movement'. In fact, it is clear that collective action goes back to the founding of the Mental Patients Union (1972), if not beyond, but this need not undermine the general sense of a coming of age. At the same time, there are many involved today who know very little about what was happening in the 1980s or how that led to where we are now. We have grown up considerably. But unless we appreciate where we came from and how, can we look forward and plan with confidence? How do we explain ourselves?
In 2005, a small number of service users and mental health workers came together to discuss the possibility of setting up a resource/archive about the history of service user action. The group is service user led and independent, and will remain so. We have been meeting regularly and developing ideas around aims and objectives, a manifesto and the shape and purpose of an archive. We have no funding but are hosted by Together. We have run stalls exhibiting historical materials at two national conferences and will be doing a presentation at the Mind Coming of Age conference. Most of the current group live in the south-east and fit developing an archive around other commitments.
The question of who can best communicate the history of service user action is a good one. We would be unhappy if service users were not actively involved in researching, discussing and interpreting such history. One way of encouraging good history is to ensure that a wide diversity of accurate evidence is available, and this is a key objective of our work. A huge amount of material undoubtedly exists. Deciding what to collect and how is not easy. But some important evidence may be more difficult to find. How many copies of Asylum magazine's interview with R. D. Laing still exist? Has a full account ever been written of Mad Pride's vigil at Suicide Bridge?
History is important, interesting and entertaining, and the archive will not just include written material. We want to record interviews with service users around the country. There is an exciting range of possibilities. Securing funding and somewhere to house the archive will be vital. We may not achieve this immediately but the desire to record our history properly will not disappear. Meanwhile, if you have interesting material that may not be available elsewhere, please do not throw it away.
For more information contact Anne Beales, 82A Wick Street, Littlehampton BN17 7TS; 01903 73343; anne-beales@together-uk.org